Barbara Mink Succeeds John Roueche as CCLP Director

Smith, Susan, Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Dr. Barbara Mink, a veteran education leader and chair of the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees, has been named director of the prestigious Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) at the University of Texas at Austin, as of Sept. 1.

A clinical professor in the College of Education, Mink replaces CCLP's longtime director, Dr. John E. Roueche, who stepped down in the summer.

"[The position] is exciting, and it's big shoes to fill," she says. "Of course, John Roueche has had the last 40 years. I'll be building on that legacy and moving forward with new initiatives:'

Mink says community colleges are in a unique position to create a pipeline in P-16 education and build bridges between concentrations, as well as help develop public-private partnerships to help community colleges "do more with less" in an environment of state funding cuts.

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She has reached out to colleagues across the College of Education to determine similar competencies--for example, leadership training--and whether it's possible to create common courses. There are similar competencies for principals, superintendents and administrators of community colleges and universities, she says.

"I'm trying to work across faculty in the college to have a sense of that P-16 pipeline, so that in our course, we include stuff about the K-12 piece" she adds, "and how that impacts community colleges, and how [our piece] affects universities"

Mink worked with Roueche nationally and as senior lecturer at CCLP. Roueche is credited with recruiting a record number of minorities and women to the program and producing graduates who are among the who's who in the community college field, the fastest-growing sector of higher education. He's now director of the Roueche Graduate Center at the for-profit National American University, which is developing a combination online and in-person program for community college leaders. This summer, Roueche says, his concerns about the direction of CCLP, including the loss of senior staff and a proposal to include master's students in the program, led him to accept an early retirement package from the university.

Dr. Coral Noonan-Terry, former interim director of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, part of the Community College Leadership Program, followed him to the National American University.

Manuel J. Justiz, dean of the College of Education, and Norma Cantu, head of the Department of Educational Administration, which houses CCLP, say all the programs in the College of Education needed to find more innovative and efficient approaches to deliver curriculum while maintaining quality in light of state budget cuts. …

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